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As Crystal Palace’s players emerged for their Conference League clash against AEK Larnaca last month, fans in the Holmesdale Road Stand at Selhurst Park unveiled an eye-catching tifo.
The display, which is understood to have cost £20,000, showed the journey from London to Leipzig, the location of the competition’s final this season. It was accompanied by the words: ‘We are the boys who will win your little game’, a reference to the classic British sitcom Dad’s Army, and a thinly-veiled dig at UEFA after Palace’s demotion from the Europa League.
The moment felt symbolic of how far the Eagles have come. After all, it is only 15 years since they almost ceased to exist, and two since Roy Hodgson told supporters they had been ‘spoiled in recent times’. That comment came following a decade where the team's highest finish was 10th.
But these are heady times for Palace fans. An incredible FA Cup triumph in May, the first trophy in their 120-year history, was followed by a victory in the Community Shield, a first foray into Europe and a club-record unbeaten run.
The mood was dampened by four games without a win at the end of that period, but back-to-back victories over Liverpool and Brentford have reminded everyone this side is special.
Ismaila Sarr and Yeremy Pino, Palace’s goalscorers at Anfield last week, are a good place to start. Tasked with filling the voids left by Michael Olise and Eberechi Eze following their departures in successive summers, both are fine examples of the club’s intelligent recruitment.
After a bedding-in period, Sarr, a £12.6million arrival from Marseille in the summer of 2024, has scored 18 goals and added 10 assists in little over a season.
Pino, meanwhile, has shown signs of his quality in spurts as he continues to adapt to English football, with his past two performances against Liverpool and Brentford among his brightest. Aged 23 and as a 17-cap Spain international, there is confidence the £26m signing will soon catch fire.
Palace also made the decision not to sign a direct replacement for Eze, instead focusing on additions that would improve their overall attack. That included the arrival of Christantus Uche from Getafe, although the forward has barely featured.
Their recruitment success stories are endless. Adam Wharton has developed into one of the best midfielders in the league since joining from Blackburn Rovers in February 2024. Daily Mail Sport understands that on the day of Wharton's signing, owner Steve Parish told associates that he believed the Eagles had a star on their hands. Daniel Munoz can lay claim to being the best right wing-back in the division, while sources mention Maxence Lacroix, an £18m signing from Wolfsburg, when discussing Palace’s fine record in the market.
Former sporting director Dougie Freedman was credited with that transfer policy, which saw both Eze and Olise scooped up from Championship sides, and his replacement Matt Hobbs, who held a similar role at Wolves, will hope to continue its success. Freedman did formulate the initial plan for last summer, and before he moved to Saudi side Al-Diriyah, he left a list of targets he thought were worth pursuing. Transfers were then handled by assistant sporting director Ben Stevens and consultant Iain Moody, with Parish retaining the final say.
But the most important figure in Palace’s rise is boss Oliver Glasner. The Austrian, who is into the final eight months of his contract and on the radar of top sides, has transformed the club and the fortunes of several players.
Jean-Philippe Mateta is one of those Glasner has taken to new heights. The striker struggled upon joining from Mainz in 2021, scoring 11 times in his first 80 Premier League games. But since Glasner’s appointment in February 2024, Mateta has 33 strikes in 60 top-flight outings and he is now a France international. Glasner has encouraged the striker to stay central (he previously drifted to wide areas) so that he's in the box when chances arise and has the energy to take them.
The success of Glasner's 3-4-2-1 system, where Palace are known for their dynamism, pressing and incisiveness in transition, has made a mockery of Ruben Amorim’s struggles at Manchester United. It is a system Glasner has refined and perfected and one that has kept eight clean sheets already in 2025-26, while also creating the highest number of expected goals in the Premier League at 18.6 (as the chart below demonstrates).
The Austrian's style is influenced by Jurgen Klopp, and its key tenet is intensity. Statistics and analysis play a major role, and Palace's players are running more than ever before. During the 2022-23 season, the final full campaign before Glasner’s arrival, under Patrick Vieira and Roy Hodgson, Palace covered the lowest distance in the top flight. The Eagles are now running the sixth most, with an average of 111.6km-per-game, 9.8km more than three years ago.
Glasner, who plays golf and padel when his spare time allows, is known to be hands-on in training. He conducts one-to-one coaching with stars and delivers messages clearly. He arrives early to Palace’s base in Beckenham and leaves late.
He is meticulous - and willing to adapt his gameplans to opponents. This goes down to the specifics of team selection. Jefferson Lerma expected to start at Liverpool, but Glasner held him back for Brentford given his physicality and energy, coupled with his strength at set-pieces. The call paid off, with Lerma winning a header from Pino's free-kick to assist Mateta’s opener before his long throw-in caused panic and led to an own goal from Bees skipper Nathan Collins.
The team's success has helped Glasner develop a tight-knit group where club captain Marc Guehi and Wharton are said to be integral. Glasner has grown that spirit by creating a culture based on respect and trust. This was built upon by a productive pre-season tour in Austria this summer, after the squad had bonded over a round of golf during a mid-season training camp in Marbella in March.
Glasner can occasionally be blunt behind the scenes, and that ruthlessness has been on display this season. Romain Esse, who has struggled for gametime since his January move from Millwall, was hooked at half-time of a Carabao Cup tie against his former club in September. Glasner had been visibly frustrated with Esse's performance, and he has played only three minutes since. Jaydee Canvot was also taken off shortly after his mistake led to Larnaca’s match-winning goal in the Conference League last month.
Most players tend to appreciate Glasner's frankness, though. Last summer, amid Liverpool's well-publicised courting of Guehi, Glasner was direct in telling the centre back he wanted him to stay put.
Set-pieces have become a part of Palace’s strengths too, and they have scored eight goals from them this season.
With their fixtures piling up, Glasner has focused more on dead-ball situations to maximise the goal return from the tired legs in his squad. Before the Brentford game, 15 minutes of a 40-minute session were spent on throw-ins.
‘It would be really stupid of us if we didn’t train at set-pieces,’ Glasner said last Saturday. ‘Every third goal is scored from set-plays and that means you must accept it. Set-pieces have always played a crucial part because we know in tight games it can help you win.’
Glasner has made the most of his resources, although some sources say he has benefitted from a smaller squad. They believe that has helped the group to buy-into the Austrian's tactics, with every player knowing exactly what to do.
Glasner - who is satisfied with the squad size after some tetchy moments towards the end of the transfer window when business was slow - has shifted Palace's mentality. Immediately after they beat Liverpool in the Community Shield, he boldly said: ‘We have four competitions to play, so that means four trophies to win.'
Palace are now in the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup, favourites for the Conference League and ninth in the Premier League table. There was also that club-record unbeaten run from April to October, and their status among rivals has gone up a notch as a result.
After Palace lost at Arsenal recently, Mikel Arteta hinted as such, saying: ‘I told the boys that I value this victory more than any other this season. I knew we were playing against a team who have been one of the best in terms of organisation and how frustrated they can make you. The moment you lose concentration, they punish you.’
Glasner’s ambition is married with a determined but positive demeanour, and he regularly shows charisma and humility in dealings with the media. When asked by Daily Mail Sport if he ever gets a chance to reflect on his impressive achievements at Palace, he instead joked about Selhurst Park's new mixed zone.
‘No, not really,’ he said. ‘Before I came up here, I did the radio interviews, and we have a new tent. It’s huge progress. It’s Conference League because the wind blows through it. When we’re in the Champions League, there will be heating, and the tent is closed. So yes, the club is really progressing!’
The challenge is to continue the progress in a period where squad depth will be tested. Glasner has been at pains to point out that Palace will already have played 30 matches in the 2025-26 season by the end of this calendar year.
It is also no secret his side are better without the ball, with their average possession of 41.8 per cent the second lowest in the Premier League. That's probably why they haven't fared as well in Europe, struggling to break down low blocks against Fredrikstad and Larnaca after being given most of the ball. Glasner must find a way to solve this conundrum.
Though he is admired by top clubs, but Daily Mail Sport understands that while Glasner is viewed as the ‘best coach out of possession’, those teams want to dominate the ball, something Palace, for all their strengths, do not do.
Nevertheless, his future remains a hot topic, and he is in constant contact with Parish about how Palace can keep improving. Parish is described as ‘fiercely ambitious’, a quality Glasner shares, so the challenge is finding a way forward that suits both parties and the club.
They are in talks over a new deal, and sources hinted those early discussions have been encouraging and that it feels unlikely Glasner will walk away come the end of the season.
And, given all that he has already achieved, you wouldn’t put it past the Austrian making that tifo prediction a reality and leading his side all the way to Leipzig come May.